Rock Hits Out With X800 Powered Notebook

Rock, purveyor of high performance notebooks, has launched the Xtreme Ti, which it refers to as the “ultimate gaming notebook”. It makes this claim based on the Xtreme Ti featuring the ATI Mobility X800 graphics chip. This is a PCI Express x16 solution and in our initial benchmark tests outpaced nVidia’s GeForce GO 6800 mobile graphics processor. Even better news for gamers is that the graphics chip is upgradeable enabling users to keep the notebook up to date when even faster solutions appear.

Nick Boardman, Managing Director of Rock Group plc, says, “Never before has so much flexibility provided so much performance. With an upgradeable GPU, the most performance hungry games releases will be playable simply by changing the processor on the graphics card. No other notebook computer will give its owner the ability to play today’s cutting edge games at the highest settings and ensure that next years releases can also be enjoyed as their designers intended.”

The processor is a Pentium 4, which can be specified up with clock speeds between 3.0GHz and 3.6GHz and SATA hard disks between 60GB or 100GB. The memory subsystem is based on DDR2 RAM, which Rock claims is a first for any notebook and the motherboard can support up to 4GB of 533MHz DDR2 RAM. In keeping with the graphical flair is the widescreen 17in WSXGA+ (1,680 x 1,050) TFT screen. This uses X-Glass technology to produce a bright clear and colourful picture.

Other key technology is an eight-speed dual-layered DVD writer, 802.11g wireless LAN and Bluetooth. On the audio side, there’s output for 7.1 surround sound channels and a integrated sub-woofer. Extra features include a 7-in-1 card reader and a 300k pixel video camera.

Prices for the Xtreme Ti start from £1,761 up to £2,114 including VAT, with a three year collect-and-return warranty.